Sunday, October 30, 2005

The Moon King

From a sidebar in the paper some time last week:

Privates on parade

Prince Harry was forced to drop his trousers during a parade at the elite Sandhurst military academy to prove he did not have girlfriend Chels Davy's name tattooed on his royal rear, British newspaper The Sun says. Harry, 21, who is on an officer training course, was ordered to bare his behind after rumours spread about the tattoo. During a parade, a sergeant yelled: "Cadet Wales, drop your pants and show me your backside!" Harry said "Are you serious?" before being ordered: "Just get them off, I want to see if it's true." Harry had his trousers at his knees before the grinning sergeant relented.

A couple of notes:

Try to imagine the reaction of the offspring of the New American Aristocracy to being placed in this situation. On second thoughts, don't bother; it's too much of a stretch imagining them in the armed forces in the first place.

The old joke is no joke: the sergeant is God. These cadets will, once they graduate, outrank their sergeant - on paper. If they were paying attention during training, none will presume to test that.